The Switch
by 11235
Summary: Divergence crossover between Ranma and Harry Potter. Diverges at Neko-Ken/night of Voldemort's defeat. Harry and Ranma are raised by different people. Rating is probably higher than it needs to be, but T to be safe.
1. The Disappearance

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. I do own the laptop I'm using at the moment. I _think_ I own the clothes I'm wearing. Please don't sue me.

Prologue One: The Disappearance

Genma Saotome was a happy man.

Sure, he had been seen throwing his six-year-old son into a pit of starving cats, and had been forced to flee from Japan in the cargo area of a Boeing 777 departing from Tokyo. Sure, he would be forced to stay far away from Japan until the manhunt died down. Sure, he was now stuck in London, where he barely spoke enough of the language to order fast food. Sure, he would probably not see his wife again for a decade. Despite all of this, he was happy.

He was happy because he was sure his son was mere days away from mastering the dreaded Neko-Ken. With this vaunted technique, he was sure that Ranma would secure his position as the best martial artist of his generation- no, the best martial artist _ever_. He would marry a Tendo, run a dojo, live a poor, meaningless- err... _happy_- life, and support his beloved father for the rest of his days.

Never let it be said that Genma Saotome was a pessimist.

Also, this neighbourhood was the perfect place to teach the Neko-Ken. Not only was there a veritable mother-load of cats to _borrow_, in the form of a crazy woman with way too many cats, there was also the attitude prevalent in the area. It seemed that the residents were obsessed with being normal, to the point where they deigned to ignore anything abnormal. As a fat Japanese martial artist stealing cats and throwing them into holes to maul his son definitely qualified as _abnormal_, Genma benefited from this a great deal.

After leaving Japan, Genma had realized why Ranma had still failed to learn the technique. Of course, the answer was so simple that he felt like a fool. _Of course_, he thought, _I need more cats_. To that end, he was throwing ever cat he could find into the pit, while Ranma remained there. The crazy woman was truly a boon. Every time he thought he had depleted her supply of cats, another dozen would appear. Just that morning, he had added ten of her cats, plus a tabby he had found on the side of the road. The tabby was a strange one. It had the strangest marks around its eyes, and seemed to be reading a _map_ of all things before he knocked it out. Nevertheless, it was a cat, and it was obvious he needed all the cats he could find.

Soon, Genma was broken out of his thoughts by a strange popping noise, coming from the pit, immediately followed by a boom and a deep rumble. As he had not heard anything like it in the days Ranma had been down there, he went to investigate.

However, no sooner had he reached the pit than it begin to collapse on itself. Wondering desperately if his son was okay, and, more importantly, whether he had finally learned the Neko-Ken, he frantically begin to dig, looking for any sign of his son.

But, no matter how deep he dug, there was no sign of him. He had disappeared.

Genma Saotome was not a happy man.

A/N: Thank you for reading my first chapter. As it is the first thing I have ever written, please go easy on me. That said, please point out any mistakes or suggestions you may have. As I haven't actually revealed much of the plot yet, plot suggestions probably won't work too well, but I would love any constructive criticism on my style, and any proofreading is welcome.


	2. The Kidnapping

Disclaimer: Really, my last disclaimer was last chapter, which I wrote an hour ago. I really see no need to repeat myself. That disclaimer applies to this and all future chapters.

Prologue Two: The Kidnapping

Deputy Headmistress Professor Minerva McGonagall was _not _a happy woman.

In fact, at the moment, she was not a woman at all, but rather a cat- a tabby cat, with most peculiar marking around its eyes. Nevertheless, the fact is that she was decidedly _not _happy.

It _may_ have had something to do with the dull pain in her neck, the remnant of being knocked out from behind. It _may _have been the fact that she was at the bottom of a dark pit, rather sore all over. It _may_ have been the fact that she was surrounded by cats suffering under various degrees of starvation.

Certainly, on a normal day, all this would have been enough to make her royally pissed off. But it was all surpassed by the child in the corner. The _screaming_ child who was being _mauled by cats_, that is. Professor McGonagall had no doubts, given the timing of the event, that this was some kind of dark ritual, aimed at bringing back You-Know-Who, or to visit some other terrifying thing upon the world. Of course, she wasn't about to allow that to happen.

Quickly, with a small effort of will, she transformed herself back into a human, a stern-looking woman, wearing square spectacles in the same shape as the marks she had around her eyes as a cat. Whipping out her wand, she quickly transfigured all of the cats into handbags- in order to easily carry them- and grabbed the child's hand. With a shout of "_Reducto!_" she let off a blasting curse before quickly apparating to St. Mungo's hospital. She would give the Dark Wizard his due, but the child's health was the first priority.

With a distinctive _pop_, she arrived at the hospital, where the young boy- now unconscious- was quickly carried into Emergency Care. After answering a few questions, mainly with the response "I don't know," she again disapparated. She had a Dark Wizard to catch.

A/N: I really don't know about this chapter. I don't particularly like the feel about it, but I can't identify what in particular is wrong with it. Anyway, any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Also, sorry for the short chapters. That's just how my brain likes to break things up. They'll probably get longer as I get more used to writing. After all, this isn't just my first time publishing something- it's my first time writing something outside of English class, _ever_.


	3. The End of the Beginning

Prologue 3: The End of the Beginning

With a distinctive _pop_, Professor McGonagall once again arrived on a nearly empty street in the small town of Little Whinging. It took her but a moment to locate the small divot in the ground that had once been a hole full of starving cats. Indeed, her quest to find the hole's location was made significantly easier by the fact that the location was occupied by what appeared to be a fat man wearing a bandanna.

Said man was covered in dirt, and appeared to have been digging quite frantically, judging by his rapid breathing. Luckily, he had failed to notice her appearance. She would end this quickly.

"Stupefy!"

xXxXxXx

Genma Saotome was not panicking.

That is, of course, because the word "panic" utterly failed to describe the depths of what he was feeling at the moment. Saying the he was "panicking" would be akin to saying the Sun is "lukewarm," or perhaps that it is "bigger than my house."

In short, Genma was absolutely _terrified_, _dread-filled_, and at least a dozen other synonyms of these words.

He had many problems. He had lost his son. Nodoka would kill him. His retirement was shot. Nodoka would kill him. He couldn't fulfill any of the many engagements he had planned. Nodoka would kill him. Tendo would be disappointed. Oh, and Nodoka would kill him.

Thus, it may be forgiven that Genma failed to hear the loud noise signalling the arrival of Professor McGonagall.

He did, however, hear someone shout something that sounded oddly like "Stupid fly!" just as his finely toned Martial Artist Danger Sense™ went haywire.

Without thinking, he leaped several feet to the left, just as a bright flash of red light struck the position he had been moments before. He had no idea what the light was, but he knew he didn't want to be hit by it.

Looking in the direction the light had come from, there were a multitude of things he would have expected to see. Perhaps a martial arts master that he had had a... _misunderstanding_ with, and who had taken to firing ki blasts from behind. It could have been some secret government agent with a laser gun, or even some kind of alien bent on world domination. One thing he did _not_ expect to see was an aged lady, wearing square spectacles, and pointing a _stick_ of all things at him.

She shouted something at him in English. While he didn't understand much of what she was saying, the tone was pretty obvious. Also, he managed to pick up such words as "cats," "boy," and "evil," so it wasn't hard to deduce what she was angry about.

He also recognized the words "Stupid fly!" she shouted at the end, and immediately dodged out of the way. Inexplicably, the red light seemed to come from the stick in her hand. Seeing as this was going nowhere, Genma decided to employ the Saotome Final Technique. Pulling out a cloth, he used one of his sealed techniques to disappear from sight before hiding in a corner of a nearby house.

Sure enough, the scary lady with the laser stick looked shocked for a moment, then began to scrutinize the area. Eventually, she gave up, and with a final _pop_, she disappeared.

xXxXxXx

_Well, that went well_, McGonagall thought sarcastically. _I failed to take down the Dark Wizard, from behind, when he was unaware_. She had continued to fire at him, after a good shouting, but she only got off one stunner before he used some weird magic to disappear. He had pulled out a cloth, waved it about himself while shouting something unintelligible, and then he was _gone_. There had been no distinctive _pop_ of a disapparation, nor had he appeared to pull anything out except the cloth. He hadn't used a wand, so it couldn't be a disillusionment charm, and the cloth was far too small to be an invisibility cloak. But, though she scrutinized the area, she failed to detect the presence of anyone. With mounting frustration, she decided to simply go back to St. Mungo's to check on the boy.

In all the excitement, she had utterly forgotten her original purpose in coming to the town. Thus, she was not there as a young Harry Potter was taken to Four Privet Drive, and his new family.

xXxXxXx

Genma Saotome was frantic. He had escaped from the Woman-Who-Had-A-Laser-Stick, but he was still down a son. He desperately needed to find his son. Or, at least someone that looked enough like his son that he could pass for Ranma in a decade or so. As Genma was not planning to go back to Japan anytime soon, waiting a decade wouldn't be a problem. So, he basically just had to find a boy with black hair. Eye color changes could be explained away as natural growth, and everyone already said that the boy looked nothing like him, so family resemblance wouldn't be a problem either. As long as he presented his wife with a man among men who could conceivably be their son, he saw no problem. And, with him as the parent, how could he turn out anyway else?

Let it never be said that Genma Saotome was modest in any way.

Anyway, to that end, he began to look around the neighborhood for promising boys to buy for a meal, or a promise of engagement to his so-far non-existent daughter, or something along those lines. After an hour of looking, he was beginning to become annoyed, when he hit the mother-load. Right next to the crazy cat-lady's house was exactly what he was looking for. On the doorstep was a baby boy, perfect for raising on his own. And it was in a basket, on a doorstep, which obviously meant it was free. It might be hard to pass him off as Ranma's age for a while, but eventually he could just pass as being small for his age. And he already had a scar on his forehead, which made him 20% more manly.

Thus it was that Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Boy-Who-Defeated-You-Know-Who, and whatever other silly titles he had been given before he turned two, was "adopted" by Genma Saotome.

A/N: Well, I believe this is the end of the prologue. I'm not really sure if I'm satisfied with this chapter, but once again, I don't really know what to change. I'll probably end up redoing this entire story once it's finished, as I expect (and hope) that my writing will improve as I get practice. Anyway, thanks for reading so far. I hope to make the next chapter longer, and I can guarantee that it will advance the timeline quite a lot.

Best regards,

Leila (11235)


	4. Interlude 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or locations in this story. Unless I write about my house for some reason. However, I did write this story. Except the typos. Those were all my evil twin's fault.

Quick Note: The Prologue all occurred on November 1, 1981. Also, Ranma is a little spotty in English, but I suck at writing Engrish, so just pretend, okay?

Interlude 1

_Christmas Hols, 1981_

Professor McGonagall had decided to take the holidays away from Hogwarts this year. Specifically, she wished to visit one Ranma Saotome, who was still being kept as an inpatient at St. Mungo's Magical Hospital.

She would have liked to stay with the boy after all that happened, but she had to return to work. She loved her job, but professors missing even a few days tended to wreak havoc on the workings of the school. There were simply not enough professors that knew enough to step in as a substitute. She had managed to stay for a couple days, but that was straining the limits. Besides, the healers had informed her that Ranma would likely be unable to leave the hospital for at least six months. Even then, he was at least a year away from reaching any state of normalcy, and many of his wounds would certainly leave scars for life.

And thus it was that she was very surprised by what she was told upon this visit.

Apparently, the boy seemed to already have returned almost to normal. Even the wounds that should never have fully healed, even with magical help, were nearly fully healed. Needless to say, the healers were baffled. They had never seen anything like it, much less from a six-year-old child. Nevertheless, after all the tests they had done, they had no choice but to give the boy a clean bill of health.

Unfortunately, this put the professor in a bit of a bind. While she had begun the process of looking for a home for the poor boy, she had never expected him to need a home this quickly. Besides that, it seemed that no one was willing to adopt an orphan that ostensibly was the son of a Dark Wizard, especially seeing as that said Dark Wizard was still alive. Most families had terrorized by far too many such wizards for their tastes, and most of the rest were currently being prosecuted for their part in the war.

Worse, there were not orphanages that could take him in. For some reason, the Dark Lord seemed to have targeted orphanages rather early in his reign of terror. Those few remaining were, quite frankly, too crowded already.

Minerva sighed. It seemed there was really only one place for him to go. The place that was seen as the safest place in Britain. The place where it was least likely that his dark father could ever find him. Breathing out another sigh, she went to a nearby fireplace to floo Albus.

xXxXxXx

Ranma sat on the bed in his hospital room and pondered.

For the first month he had been here, he had often wondered when his father would come to take him back. They had played the game often before. His father would give him to some strangers for a bowl of rice, or some pickles, and something about an "engagement." Then, he would come one night, and they would sneak out of the house and run away. It was great fun, so much so that he sometimes wondered why they were being paid to play, instead of the other way around.

Now, however, he had started to doubt that his father was going to come. He had never taken more than a week before to finish the game. It had been nearly two months now. In fact, he wasn't sure he _wanted_ him to come. He never wanted to go back to the Pit, never wanted to be stuck with those cats, never wanted to feel the fear of those terrible days and nights, ever again.

He was hoping he could stay with Auntie Min. That wasn't her real name, that was a lot longer, and _really_ hard to say. In fact, the only part he could manage was "Min." She was really nice, and had turned into a cat to save him from the Pit. He had never known anyone who could turn into an animal before, so that was really cool too. He wondered if she could teach him to do that too.

He was jolted out of his reverie by a knock on the door.

xXxXxXx

Professor Minerva McGonagall was surprised.

She had flooed Albus, expecting to have a long conversation about the possibility of taking Ranma to Hogwarts and keeping him as a ward. What she had not expected was his absentminded agreement. It was as though he had more important things on his mind.

She wondered what he could have on his mind so soon after the war, especially considering that it was currently the Christmas holidays. This year, people had a true reason to celebrate, happy that the war was over. Those lucky ones that had made it through with their families mostly intact insisted on trying to bring cheer to the holidays of those less fortunate. In fact, such was the spirit that not a single student had remained at Hogwarts for the holidays, leaving Albus with nothing to worry about on the student front, either.

Well, it was a dilemma she could solve later. The Headmaster had given his permission, so it was time to talk to the boy himself. Preparing herself, she knocked on his door and went in.

xXxXxXx

Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was panicking. In fact, in all of his years- and his age had reached the triple digits this last summer- he had never been in such a panic.

He had just been informed by his watcher, Arabella Figg, that Harry Potter was missing. Not only was he missing, but he had been missing for some time now. In fact, from what she had seen, he had never even made it inside the Dursleys' house.

It seemed that in the days before that fateful night on October 31, she had had a number of her precious cats go missing. Eventually, desperate to keep more from being stolen, she had locked herself, and her cats, indoors. Even when some of the cats were returned on the first of November, she had continued her paranoid vigil. In fact, she had only opened her house after she ran out of cat food- about a month after she had run out of all other food. While he couldn't help but admire her dedication to protect her cats, at the cost of eating nothing but cat food for a month, he sorely wished that she had applied that dedication to watching Harry Potter instead.

Dumbledore had already contacted the Ministry about the appropriate tracking charms. Unfortunately, he knew that time was short. Tracking charms were all well and good, but they relied on people identifying the target by name. Most important was self-identification. The less that Harry Potter identified himself as Harry Potter, the worse the charm would function. If he forgot the name completely, the charm would become virtually worthless. Best case scenario, at that point they would be able to tell what country he was in. Worst case scenario, they would have difficulty confirming he was still in the same solar system.

Worse, any competent wizard would know all this. Anyone but a fool would quickly change his name, and Harry was not yet old enough to remember his true name if he was raised by another. Thus, time was of the essence.

xXxXxXx

Professor McGonagall walked into Ranma's room.

"Auntie Min!" he shouted happily. Normally, the stern professor would not be likely to let anyone call her by such a name, but it was far better than the time he had tried to pronounce "McGonagall."

"Hello, Ranma," she greeted kindly, "I've come to talk to you about something."

"What is it, Auntie Min?"

"The healers here have said you are healthy enough to leave, but I need to talk to you about where you will be going now."

"I want to go with you, Auntie Min!" Ranma shouted enthusiastically.

McGonagall smiled. "Perfect. You'll be staying at Hogwarts- that's the magic school where I work- at least until we can find some place more permanent."

"Magic school?" Ranma enquired.

"Yes, it's where most of the wizards and witches in Great Britain go to school. When you turn eleven, you will probably attend there too. Speaking of which, when is your birthday?"

Ranma looked shamed. "I don't know... Daddy never told me..."

McGonagall frowned. "Well, that will never do. Would you like to pick a birthday, perhaps?"

"I want it to be the day you saved me, Auntie Min!"

McGonagall smiled. "All right then, November first it is. We need to get going though. I would like to give you a tour of Hogwarts before we turn in tonight.

A/N: The Interludes are basically the time in between the prologue and the "Ten Years Later" that the canon glosses over. Enough happens that I felt they deserved their own chapters. That said, the next interlude will probably be the last.

It seems to me like McGonagall used a bit less formal dialogue then feels right. My excuse is that she's speaking to a child that doesn't know English well, so she simplifies it :-) For the same reason, she's a lot less stern than usual. She is talking to a six-year-old, who is recovering from being mauled by cats, after all.

Also, the original idea for this story had Ranma die in the Neko-Ken training, but I liked this way a _lot_ more. The other way would have become boring quickly, and I didn't like the taste of killing of a child.

Finally, about the "Auntie" in "Auntie Min." That's mainly just a carry-over from Ranma's native Japanese. It'll probably end up sticking though, at least until he's old enough to say "Professor McGonagall."

Sorry about the long author's notes. ;-)


	5. Interlude 2

Important Note: I added this soon after Interlude 1. Be sure to read that first, or this won't make much sense. ;-)

Disclaimer: This disclaimer disclaims all that I should disclaim that I can disclaim.

Quick Note: To prevent confusion, Genma will refer to Harry as "the boy," which is what he usually calls Ranma in canon anyway. I don't want confusion over two Ranma's in one story. ;-) Pretty much everyone else, of course, refers to him as Harry.

Interlude 2

_Summer, 1984_

An now eight-year-old Ranma was staying at Hogwarts over the summer, again, and he was frustrated.

He was not frustrated because he was staying at Hogwarts. Oh no. He liked the castle- there was plenty of room to explore, and always new things to see. He was rather glad that no one had wished to adopt him. On top of that, he could practice magic here, as he was technically "at school." Or at least, he could _try_ to practice magic. That he had so far failed was the root of his frustration.

In the year and a half he had been here, he had not shown a spark of magic, accidental or otherwise. Nor had he managed to make any headway on his Animagus transformation. Auntie Min had told him that that was something he needed to learn. Something about cat instincts and dark rituals and split personalities and worried healers at St. Mungo's. He had difficulty remaining awake when she explained all of it to him, and it didn't help that his English skills had been rather lacking at the time.

Now, however, he felt, was the time he would do his first magic. A month of careful observation and waiting had paid off, when he finally saw an opportunity to nick Auntie Min's wand. He knew he had seven hours- she had taken the longer trip to Diagon Alley today for shopping, and would be visiting some Muggleborn wizards and witches today to introduce them to the magical world.

Carefully, he began to copy the movements he had seen her perform while spying on her first year classes. He was sure that he was doing them perfectly, but he still felt that something was missing, and the matchstick, stubbornly remaining a matchstick, seemed to agree.

Thinking back, he remembered one difference, one that was felt more than seen. When Auntie Min had done it, there was a... _warmth_, that travelled up her arm and into the wand. It felt much like the ki that his father- no, Genma- had introduced him to, but it had a different... consistency, perhaps. It felt simultaneously thicker and more fluid. Finally, he set down the wand for a while, and went into a light meditative trance, searching for this warmth within himself.

xXxXxXx

Headmaster Albus Dumbledore sighed. He had feared this day would come since he had learned of Harry Potter's disappearance, and his worst fears had proved to be well-founded. Harry Potter evidently responded to a new name now. A name that, unfortunately, he did not know. The tracking charms now only told the Ministry that he was somewhere in Europe, with a 75% chance that he was still in Great Britain. Now, the only times they could narrow his position down was when he used accidental magic. While this happened fairly regularly, that was a mixed blessing. For Harry to be using magic as often as he was, his kidnapper must be putting him in mortal peril rather often.

Each time they managed to narrow down his position, however, the culprit managed to escape. It was obvious that he was a true master of stealth. Worse, he was getting more efficient in his evasion. At first, Ministry aurors had managed to pursue him for up to an hour at a time, and had managed to positively identify him as a rather heavy Asian male, who typically wore eyeglasses, as well as a white bandanna to cover his encroaching baldness. From what Minerva, and the young boy, Ranma, had told him, this was likely to be the boy's father, Genma Saotome. Oddly enough, Ranma did not believe him to be a wizard, but it was obvious to both the Ministry and Dumbledore that no Muggle could evade capture for even a day, much less nearly two years.

Unfortunately, in recent times, Ministry aurors failed to get even a glimpse of the culprit. It seemed likely that he had figured out how they were tracing Harry, and simply quickly left the area whenever he used accidental magic. Oddly enough, tracking charms did not seem to work on the man, as though he was hiding his magic, and he had yet to apparate, as far as the Ministry could tell, so they had yet to find a way to track him directly.

_Oh well_, the Headmaster thought sadly. _With at least six aurors on call at all times, we'll find him eventually. He can't hide forever, after all._

He just dearly hoped that "eventually" wouldn't wait too long.

xXxXxXx

Genma Saotome was getting sick of pursuit.

Luckily, pursuit was finding them a lot less often these days. A couple of months after he had taken the boy, the pursuers had shown their faces nearly every day. Luckily, they were extremely lacking in subtlety. They all wore _cloaks_, of all things. Genma wasn't exactly subtle, but he managed to beat them by a long shot. Once he realized this pattern, he would grab the boy and implement the Forbidden Techniques to get away whenever he saw a cloak. Sure, there were some false alarms, but overall the system worked quite well. The one time he had been hit, he found out those weird laser-stick things _hurt_. It had nearly paralyzed him, and he had barely managed to hide in a ditch, fully employing the _Umi-Sen-Ken _to avoid capture.

Overall, the new boy was disappointing in the Art. However, he had occasional bursts of brilliance, where he would suddenly go from his four-year-old mediocrity to the level of the Dreaded Master (may he never return). Oddly, immediately following these bursts of brilliance, those damned People-Who-Have-Cloaks-And-Laser-Sticks would show up suddenly. Eventually, even he managed to notice the pattern, and went into hiding whenever the boy eclipsed his own skill.

He was glad the boy was growing, though. He had told him that he was ten, when in reality he looked about four. In perhaps four years, he would pass for a fourteen-year-old (with a growth deficit). At that point, he would leave this country and take the trip for China that he had been planning since before he lost the first Ranma. After that, it would be to the Tendos', and glorious, glorious retirement.

xXxXxXx

Ranma didn't know how long he had been sitting there when he felt it. Not his ki, which Genma had forced him to learn to utilize at an early age in his crazy training sessions, but that unfamiliar _warmth_. He never would have noticed it if he hadn't been around so many students and professors and noticed its use. In fact, based on how far the sun had moved since he began meditation, it had taken him a very long time to find it, even having seen it before.

He figured he had about an hour left now. He made the motions again, this time forcing as much of the _warmth_, which he now figured must be magic, into the wand.

This time, something happened. He was about to cheer in happiness as the match took on a decidedly silver tint, and seemed to sharpen slightly.

That was when the match exploded, knocking him out, and somehow managing to produce enough soot to cover him from head to toe.

He had some work to do.

Despite that, he lost consciousness with a smile on his face,

End of Interlude

A/N: Any further parts of this ten-year span will be covered in flashback or casual reference. In other words, the next chapter should be the proper Chapter One!

Next, one thing I thought I should mention that partially answers a couple reviews that I could answer without spoilers- Ranma did _not_ learn the Neko-Ken. At least, not fully. As a result, he really doesn't like cats, and has quite acute ailurophobia (fear of cats- not in Google Documents' dictionary, apparently), but he hasn't reached the level of canon Ranma. He's perhaps as scared of cats as Ron is of spiders- he panics around them, but he doesn't run through concrete walls to get away from them, or think he's a cat if he's around one too long. That said, as I've hinted in this chapter, it has had some effects on his mind, that will have to be addressed, lest he eventually "go cat" unwillingly.

Also, I couldn't find a place to discuss this in chapter, and it's really not that important, but Ranma has kept up martial arts- though at a sane level this time. He remembers enough of what Genma taught him that he can supplement his skills with practice and references from books and other martial arts enthusiasts.


	6. Chapter 1: The Hunt for Harry, Part I

Yay! New longest chapter!

Disclaimer: Meh. You get the point.

Quick Note: When Ranma nicked McGonagall's wand, that was her _extra_ one. Forgot to mention that, ha! It stands to reason to me that a professional magic teacher would have an extra, in case hers ever broke, or was somehow lost. It's like a professional teacher bringing more than one piece of chalk to his lectures.

Chapter 1: The Hunt for Harry, Part I

_July 1, 1991_

Ranma McGonagall had been preparing for this moment for a long time.

Ever since he had learned that it was his ex-father who had kidnapped Harry Potter and successfully evaded Ministry authorities for such a long time, he dreamed of catching the bastard and setting things straight.

As time went on, he grew older, as children are wont to do. It didn't take him long to realize that the Ministry was wrong in fundamental ways about the man they were chasing. They believed that he was a powerful wizard, as they absolutely refused to believe that a Muggle would be capable of what he had done. Ranma knew from being raised by him that he was no wizard.

If he were a wizard, at least a competent one, Ranma would have seen him use magic at some point. Why would he steal food, or sell his son for it, if he could conjure it from mid-air? More to the point, why would he ever go hungry? Ranma knew that he had little self-control, so there is no way he could have managed to go without food to keep up a deception, especially such a pointless one.

No, Genma Saotome was no wizard. In fact, Ranma sometimes wondered how he ended up as one. Perhaps it was all his exposure to magic while healing. Perhaps it was simply chance. Perhaps it was just that fact that everyone around him _believed_ he could do it. Well, he would never know.

Anyway, from the time he had smuggled himself and Harry to China two years ago, he had managed to get a plot of the locations they had been seen or detected, from one of his friends, a John Bakes, who had graduated the year before last and joined the Auror Corps. The aurors could make no rhyme or reason out of his path that zig-zagged throughout China. Ranma, however, suspected that he knew the answer. Few wizards had even heard of martial arts, but Ranma knew that Genma was obsessed with them, and for some reason, even more obsessed with teaching his son, or false son, as the case may be.

If one assumed that Genma was heading towards a certain point in China, but couldn't resist stopping at just about every dojo or training hall along the way, his path began to make sense. It actually narrowed down his potential destination to a relative small area, about 50 miles in radius. At the rate he was going, he would reach the area around the end of the month. That gave Ranma about four weeks to prepare.

Starting at the Christmas hols of the previous year, his fourth at Hogwarts, he had begun his preparations. He had acquired a number of useful items from another of his recently-graduated friends, Harriet Banks. They were a number of enchanted items that, if worn on the head, would rather quickly teach a language. The downsides were that they had to be worn constantly for about 3 months to achieve fluency, and that Harriet decided to pull a prank on him and give them to him in the form of huge, ridiculous-looking bows to tie his hair with. He got three for himself- the languages that he was likely to need: Japanese (which he was somewhat rusty in), Cantonese, and Mandarin. He also got one in English for Harry, in case he needed it when he came back.

The rest, he did mainly without help. First, he needed to find a way to safely use his wand. He had discovered, by looking through old Ministry files, all a matter of public record, that the Trace, which identified the Ministry whenever a minor used their wand, was simply a number of charms placed directly upon the wand. Of course, completely removing them would alert the Ministry, and there was no way to use his own wand to cast spells on itself. To that end, he nicked Aunt Min's extra wand again, and used it to more the Trace charms to a Muggle pencil he had picked up somewhere. He held the pencil whenever he was casting magic legally, so the Ministry saw nothing suspicious, but left it at Hogwarts when he left the grounds. So far as the Ministry was concerned, it looked like he never cast magic outside of school.

Stealing Aunt Min's wand again reminded him of the day he had cast his first spell, back when he was eight-years-old. Unfortunately, he was still unconscious when she returned, so he got quite the tongue lashing when he awoke. Still, she eventually congratulated him on his first spell, while simultaneously warning him_ never_ to do that again without supervision.

For his ninth birthday, he was given his first wand. Normally, he would have been forced to wait until age eleven, but, given that he lived at Hogwarts, he was allowed to cast spells there as long as he was always under supervision.

Of course, circumventing Ministry regulations the way he did was highly illegal. As was his next step, which was _very_ carefully teaching himself to apparate, away from school grounds, of course. His meditation skills helped greatly with his focus, and he managed to master the skill without splinching himself. Combined, these infractions would be easily enough to get him expelled. It was worth the possible price, however. He loved his Aunt Min, who had formally adopted him into her family just before he entered Hogwarts, and he loved this world he had been introduced to, but he was always aware of the fact that someone else paid the price for his happiness. If he had stayed with Genma, and survived the Neko-Ken "training," Harry Potter could have lived out his life. It was time for him to pay back the debt, whatever the cost.

And so it was that Ranma McGonagall left Hogwarts in early July, supposedly to take a vacation in mainland Europe. Taking a ferry across the channel (just to cover his bases), he then took a portkey to China.

The hunt was on.

xXxXxXx

_July 23, 1991_

After searching through China for three weeks, Ranma had easily confirmed his suspicions about the purpose of Genma's meandering path. Virtually every point at which Harry had been detected was a place of martial arts learning, or else showed signs that dangerous training had taken place there. It was likely that Harry was using bursts of accidental magic simply to keep himself alive under Genma's crazy training.

However, it was much harder to confirm the location of any such martial arts havens within the area he had deduced was their final destination. As far as most of China was concerned, that area was mostly a dead zone- no one lived there, and no one wanted to.

Just as he was beginning to despair, however, he stumbled upon what seemed to be the answer. According to legend, an old master in a small village told him, there was a valley in the area that was filled with three warring tribes. More importantly, he had met a balding, fat Japanese man, who had asked for directions to the legendary _Jusenkyou_, which was found within the valley. According to the old man, they were springs with a terrible curse, which would befall any who fell in. He had tried to warn the fat man to stay away from there, but he had not listened, or did not understand.

Ranma grinned. Genma had left this village only three days ago. It was at least a week's hike to the valley, but it was easily within range of apparation. Once he was out of sight of anyone in the village, he concentrated. With little more than a thought and a sharp _crack_, he disappeared from sight.

xXxXxXx

_July 29, 1991_

Ranma cursed. He had finally reached the cursed springs, but it had taken too long. It seemed that the legends of this valley were true. Not only were there patrols from the warrior tribes to avoid, but _Jusenkyou_ had some serious magic. So strong, in fact, that the very air was literally saturated with magic for some miles about. What this meant to Ranma was that his wand was little more than a stick, and that he could not apparate anywhere near the springs. Or technically, he could, he just wouldn't survive the trip. He felt quite vulnerable now, and wished that he had kept on his martial arts skills more.

He had finally reached _Jusenkyou_, but his prey had apparently arrived just before. Genma was balanced atop one of the many tall bamboo poles sticking out of the small springs, and goading Harry to join him and spar, "Boy! Stop acting like a weak little girl and come up here!"

Both of them totally ignored the portly-looking Chinese man in a military uniform, who was frantically yelling warnings at them.

Ranma began to yell as well, but it was to no avail. Genma quickly kicked Harry into a nearby pole, easily knocking him unconscious, before his limp body fell into a pool. Seeing that Genma was making no move to help, apparently finally hearing the Chinese man's dire warnings about curses, Ranma lept into the pool without hesitation. It was time he repaid the debt he owed Harry.

He was so focused on saving Harry that he barely noticed the powerful tingling spreading throughout his body, the warm magic obviously changing his body in some fundamental way. He grabbed Harry, and swam quickly to the surface.

Without use of his magic, he was forced to do CPR manually. Inevitably, while doing this, he noticed something different about Harry. Or rather, everything was different.

If Ranma hadn't seen Harry fall into the spring, he would never believe it was the same person. His black hair had turned to a reddish auburn, his face had changed entirely, and even his scar was gone. Oh, yeah, and he was a girl too. Fancy that. The only thing that remained the same, as Ranma saw when she regained consciousness, was the piercing green eyes.

Eyes that immediately widened as Harry began to blush. As if she had been kissed by a... cute... girl...

_Oh hell_, Ranma thought. _That must be the curse_.

Sure enough, Ranma saw, the curse had struck him as well. Her hair now appeared to be red, like Harry's, and still had one of those ridiculous bows, this one blue, tying it in a ponytail. Other than that, she couldn't notice any differences. Except, of course, for the fact that she was a girl, and she seemed quite a lot shorter.

Suddenly, Ranma turned around. She had nearly forgot about Genma. Sure enough, he was a few yards away, talking to the Chinese man. Seeing as he wasn't paying attention at the moment, she grabbed Harry's hand and began to drag her along at a fast pace. Finally, Harry began to run too, and they ran away from _Jusenkyou_ as fast as they could.

Ranma looked into the woods with anticipation. Just a couple miles farther, and she could apparate them out.

Her stomach began to sink as she noticed Genma Saotome blocking their path ahead.

"Listen to me, Ranma, or whatever name you go by. Genma Saotome is not your father. He kidnapped you when you were a baby. Get away from him. Flee and get to England if you can. I'll hold him off as long as I can. Your real name is Harry Potter! Now go!" she whispered urgently in Japanese to Harry as Genma approached.

Harry looked indecisive for a moment, before dashing away. It seemed she was perfectly willing to believe she wasn't related to Genma. Ranma really wished she could say the same about herself.

Genma began to chase after Harry, but was cut off by Ranma. Ranma began to use one of the few martial arts techniques she had ever developed. Even as a six-year-old, she had known how to use ki to strengthen his body. As an eight-year-old, discovering magic, she had figured out how to use magic to do the same thing. There was no real advantage to using magic instead, so she had thought it was a failed technique. Just a couple years ago, however, she had thought of using both at the same time. The result was powerful, but costly. Ki and magic did not mix well. They mixed chaotically, and created a large amount of power, but much of it was self-destructive. She would faint from the strain of just a couple minutes' use.

Of course, she didn't expect to last a couple minutes, with or without said technique, so it was perfect here. Genma was too skilled to even hold off momentarily without it.

So, glowing with a chaotic battle aura, she charged at Genma. He hit her a couple times, but it glanced off the aura around her. She hit him once, and he retreated, wincing. _Good_, she thought. _One hit managed to hurt even him_.

Her somewhat happy thoughts were cut off as Genma slipped into a strange stance. Suddenly, it was as though her eyes were slipping off of him. No matter what she tried, or how hard she concentrated, she absolutely could not focus on him. And then he was gone. The last thing she felt was what felt like hundreds of pressure point strikes along her back.

She fell to the ground, beaten, weary, and thoroughly unconscious.

* * *

A/N: In case you haven't guessed, neither Ranma nor Harry is anywhere near canon Ranma's level. That's why Harry gets knocked into a spring first, instead of Genma, and why Ranma loses so handily. Ranma and Harry are at about the same level, which is probably a little over Akane at the start of the manga. So, both could beat her, but not without effort and blocking a few blows.

Oh, and as for appearances, girl Ranma looks just like in canon (with the hair color from the anime, which I haven't seen, so I usually ignore, but whatever), but with a ponytail instead of the braid; and girl Harry looks just like his mother did at 11.

Oh, and pronouns are _confusing_. I mean _seriously_. I'm half-tempted to just start using "it" for both of them. Or maybe use plural pronouns, because each is a couple on their own ;-)

I use whatever gender each of them is in at the time, even if I'm talking in past tense. Otherwise, switching "he"'s and "she"'s in a single paragraph would drive me mad.


	7. Chapter 2: The Hunt for Harry, Part II

Quick Note: Be sure that you've read all the previous chapters. I tend to post a lot in one day, which tends to mess up the alert system, etc. Thanks :-)

This one's quite a bit shorter than the last couple, but that's just because it's a part two. I ended it on what I felt was a good breaking point.

Chapter 2: The Hunt for Harry, Part II

_July 30, 1991_

Ranma McGonagall slowly awoke. Briefly, she wondered if it had all been a dream, but the changes to her body made themselves apparent quickly. Sighing, she looked about her to see where she had ended up.

Three stone walls and a row of prison bars met her gaze.

It seemed rather likely that she had been captured by one of the warrior tribes. Based on the guards posted outside her cell, it seemed that it was a tribe of... bird people, or something. _Well, first things first_, she thought. _What do I still have, and what did they take?_

It seemed that they had taken almost nothing... except her wand. Which was quite a disaster, as it was the one thing she could not leave without. _So, shall I attempt diplomacy, or stealth?_ she wondered.

_Stealth would probably be a lot safer,_ she decided eventually.

Concentrating, she worked to slip into her Animagus form. Originally, she had been forced to learn this in order to heal her mind and control the feline instincts that she had derived from the Neko-Ken. Before, she had instinctively suppressed those instincts, but supposedly that path could lead to all sorts of disorders, from a simple mental breakdown, to full-fledged alternate personalities- where one would be entirely human, the other entirely feline.

Instead, she had learned to accept the new instincts, and to call upon them to shift into her feline form. That is what she did now. As the feline instincts came forth, her body began to shrink, as she took on decidedly feline features, before the transformation came to an end, with her as an unassuming house cat.

Before the guards could notice her absence, she slipped through the bars and ran away. By the time she heard the cries of, "The mage is loose! Find her!" in a dialect that was just barely close enough to Mandarin for her to understand, she was long gone.

She still needed to find her wand, though. She could feel it close by. Ranma quickly darted in the direction she felt it in. She slipped through a door that was open just a crack, and immediately saw her wand, sitting on the table. Shifting back into her human form, she quickly grabbed her wand.

"I see you have escaped you cell, landling," someone spoke from behind her, in a voice that promised violence if its demands were not met.

Quickly noting that, wherever she was, the air here had little enough magic to safely apparate, Ranma decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and quickly apparated to the nearest point to where Genma had defeated him, in the direction Harry had gone.

Apparently, that nearest point was a hot spring. Ranma was quite happy to note after falling in that he was a "he" again. _Honestly, that was kind of a half-assed legendary curse, if it's cured so easily_, Ranma thought. _Anyway, I had better get looking for Harry._

The problem was, he had no idea how to find him anymore. His ambush had failed, and now he was down to luck as much as anything. Sighing, he continued to walk in the direction the Harry had fled. _Hopefully, he kept going in the same direction._

As he continued to walk in that direction, a sudden rain squall passed over him, leaving him feeling drenched... and decidedly female. Apparently, that "legendary curse" was harder to get rid of than she had thought.

_Oh well, _Ranma sighed inwardly. _Harry wouldn't recognize me as a man anyway._

About an hour later, Ranma came upon an odd sight. Apparently, Genma had managed to catch up to Harry, and the Chinese man was with them too. Harry (still a girl) was standing over a girl- with purple hair of all things- who looked like she had just been beaten in a fight, extending a helping hand, while the others watched. The odd thing was that, rather than taking Harry's hand, the girl stood up, and kissed Harry on the cheek. Even odder, this seemed to scare the wits out of the Chinese man, who entreated Genma and Harry to run while yelling something about "the Kiss of Death."

Feeling that she had missed something rather vital, or else that everyone here was insane, she began to chase after the trio as they ran away from the purple-haired girl.

After several hours, Harry and Genma settled down for the night, the Chinese man having returned to _Jusenkyou_. Ranma watched, hidden in the bushes, as the purple-haired girl stalked out of the bushes.

"What business do you have here?" she asked in Mandarin.

The girl stared at her for a moment, before replying, "You have red hair, but you are not my target. I am here to kill the other red-haired one! Do not be an obstacle! Obstacles are for killing!"

"Why are you trying to kill her?"

"She defeated me in combat! I must regain my honor by avenging myself on her!"

"I see. Very well, then. _Obliviate!_" she began in a whisper, before strongly stating the final word. "Let's see then, modify your memory just a _bit_, and... bingo!"

"What business do you have here?" Ranma asked again in Mandarin.

"I am here to kill the fat one! Do not be an obstacle! Obstacles are for killing!" she replied vehemently.

"Very well, then, carry on. Just keep your violence to the fat one," Ranma replied with a slight smirk.

With a loud battle-cry, the purple-haired warrior pulled a strange weapon that Ranma had never seen before- it was like a stick with large, heavy-looking orbs on each side- out of nowhere and began to wreak vengeance on a certain fat martial artist.

While Genma ran, and Harry prepared to follow, Ranma quickly grabbed Harry's hand, apparating as far away as possible. From there, it was a simple matter to apparate again to a major city, then waiting for a portkey back to Europe. Harry had asked some questions, but Ranma told her that she would have all her questions answered once they were safely in England. Finally, they touched back down on English soil, just as Ranma's watch struck midnight, London time.

"Welcome home!" she said, grinning. Then, as she recalled the date, her grin grew ever wider. "And Happy Birthday!"

A/N: The end's kind of corny, but I like it. Also, it was probably after midnight when they left China, in that time zone, but Ranma really doesn't care about that time zone- he never bothered to change his watch.

Also, Genma gets his due. Or some of it, at least. I expect both Ranma and Harry are going to want a piece of him eventually. Not really impressed with Shampoo's dialogue though... I feel like she's trying to speak a language she doesn't know, but she's speaking Mandarin. Maybe she speaks Cantonese, and only replied in Mandarin because Ranma addressed her as such? Well, it's a decent excuse. ;-)

Finally, the phoenix people... Do they have some place in the plot, or am I just including them to mess with your heads? That, my friends... is a secret.

Oh, and _please_ don't kill me for that last comment. ;-)


End file.
